Swine farrowing hut and method of farrowing pigs and maintaining a disease - free farrowing hut

ABSTRACT

A farrowing hut structure of non-porous fiberglass material is pivotally connected at one of its ends to one end of a fiberglass floor for being pivoted between lowered and raised positions with the floor and interior of the hut structure being fully exposed to the sun and atmosphere when the hut is in its raised upended position. The hut is divided into a center sow section with pig sections on opposite sides and the floor includes heating elements embedded therein for heating the pig sections. An open top pen enclosure is connected to the hut enclosure at the end opposite the end pivotally connected to the floor. The pen floor and the hut structure in one embodiment is formed from fiber glass while in a second embodiment, the pen floor is concrete and is connected to a waste gutter which receives waste products from the hut structure and pen enclosure due to the hut structure and pen enclosure being placed on an incline sloping toward the waste gutter. A pig feeder may be placed on either end door in the center sow section or in the pig sections on an exterior wall in the proximity of a feed and pig access door for filling the feeder and removing pigs.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 945,084, filed Sept. 25,1978, and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,144.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Multifarrowing unit structures suffer from disease problems sincecleaning is difficult and the killing of all bacteria uncertain due tothe interior of the structure being shielded from the sun's directultraviolet rays which would kill all bacteria.

Disease is spread by the bateria penetrating the wood or concretematerial of the floors and being retained there indefinitely therebyexposing each litter that uses the same area. There is no effective wayto remove all of the bacteria since it usually penetrates too deeplyinto the concrete or wood material. Also, animals housed in a commonbuilding necessarily breath the same air and if disease is present inthe building it will be spread to all animals breathing the common air.

The large farrowing structures also lack the ability to be moved aboutwhich is necessary for maintaining farrowing structures on fresh groundat all times.

A problem with outdoor farrowing units has also been the difficulty ofcleaning these units and keeping them free of disease-spreadingbacteria. Furthermore, these outdoor units are unusable in cold weathersince small pigs cannot endure the colder weather.

Accordingly, a farrowing enclosure is needed that is simple inconstruction, easy to clean and be moved about thereby assuring the sowand pigs that they will have a clean disease-free fresh air environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The farrowing hut of this invention meets all objectives by being easilycleaned by tilting the hut structure to an upended position on theground off the floor to which the structure is pivotally connected. Thesun through its ultraviolet rays kills all bacteria inside the fullyexposed interior of the hut structure and the floor.

Substantially the entire structure including the floor is made from anon-porous fiberglass material which bacteria cannot penetrate as is thecase with wood or concrete. Accordingly, then the floor and the interiorare washed out with water and then exposed to the rays of the sun thebacteria will all be killed. Any disease one litter may have will beeradicated at this time and will not be passed on to the next sow andher litter. Since the litters are outside and separated they will not bebreathing the same air thereby eliminating any possibility of diseasebeing spread should any single litter be infected.

The hut structure can be used year around even through the coldestwinters by using the heating elements in the pig sections wherein theheating elements are embedded in the fiber glass floor thereby keepingthe pig sections as warm as desired for a minimum of cost.

The hut enclosure is connected to a pen enclosure and an end floor maybe provided at either end of the hut structure and may include on theinside face a pig feeder or the pig feeder may be placed in the pigsections on the exterior wall where feed will only be accessible to thepigs and not the sow. An access opening in the exterior wall allows feedto be placed in the feeder from the outside.

A waste gutter may be provided on the opposite end of the pen enclosurefrom the hut structure with the hut structure and pen having floorswhich slope toward the waste gutter thereby allowing waste materials tobe moved by gravitational forces to the waste gutter. The floor of thepen enclosure and the waste gutter may be of concrete or fiber glassmaterial just as the hut structure is constructed.

Wind is kept from the pigs in the pig sections of the hut structure byvertically disposed wind guards running a portion of the length adjacentthe open end wall passageways. The sow and the pigs in the oppositelydisposed pig sections are maintained apart by longitudinally extendingretaining bars which allow the pigs to move about thereunder butrestrain the sow from entering the pig sections.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the farrowing hut, penenclosure, and waste gutter.

FIG. 2 is a reduced in scale side elevational view showing the hutstructure being pivoted in a dashline position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an end door including a pig feeder unitattached thereto.

FIG. 4 is a reduced in scale perspective view of an alternate embodimentwherein the pen floor is fabricated from fiber glass and is bolted toand under the hut floor.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6--6 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a reduced in scale side elevational view showing the hutstructure in its fully open position with the hut being upended on theground adjacent the hut floor.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary reduced in scale top plan view of the hut only.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9--9 in FIG. 8, andshowing the pig feeder units mounted on the exterior wall in the pigsections.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The hut structure of this invention is referred to generally in FIG. 1by the reference numeral 10 and includes two half sections 12 and 14molded of fiber glass material and interconnected along the top byconnecting straps 16. The hut structure provides a sow section 18flanked by oppositely disposed pig sections 20 and 22.

The center sow section 18 extends laterally to the vertically disposedwall of angle iron retaining bars 24 with the bottom retaining bar beingspaced high enough above the floor 26 to allow a pig to move thereunderso that it may travel freely from the pig sections 20 and 22 into thesow section 18.

The ends of the hut 10 are open but may be closed by end doors 30 suchas seen in FIG. 3, and in FIG. 8. The end door 30 is secured in place byeyebolts 36 extending through aligned openings 34 on the end door 30followed by locking rods 40 extending through the eyebolts 36.

A pig feeder unit 42 may be secured to the inside face of the indoor 30,as seen in FIG. 3 and includes a feed storage compartment 44 having afill hole 46 at the top with feeder holes 48 at the bottom. The feedunit may be filled by removal of the end door or through an aircirculation opening 50 directly above the filler hole 46.

Additional air circulation holes 52 are provided on opposite sides ofthe hut structure and are closable by covers 54.

An excess cover 60 is provided on each side directly over the pigcompartments 20 and 22 centrally thereof whereby pigs may be placed inthe pig compartments or removed therefrom or feed may be placed in anexterior wall mounted pig feeder 62 (FIG. 9) having a fill opening 64directly below the cover 60. Feed holes 66 (FIG. 8) are accessible onlyfrom within the pig compartments or sections.

The cleaning of the hut structure is easily accomplished by virtue ofthe fact that the hut structure 10 is pivotally connected by hinges 70to the floor 26 such that, as seen in FIG. 2, the hut 10 may be pivotedtowards an upended position of the floor 26 where, as seen in FIG. 7, anend wall is resting on the ground 80 fully exposing the interior of thehut structure and the floor 26 to the rays 82 of the sun andadditionally allowing air circulation throughout. The hut structurebeing fabricated from lightweight fiber glass is easily tipped up to thecleaning position of FIG. 7.

The hut structure is an all-year-round farrowing unit due to theinclusion of heating elements 90 in the floor portions 26A and 26B inthe pig sections 20 and 22. An electrical cord 92 may be convenientlyconnected to an exterior electrical power source and when not in use maybe held on the exterior of the structure by a hook 94.

The pigs in the pig compartments 20 and 22 are protected from windentering the sow center section 18 by wind guards 96 hanging from thetop wall over the pig sections. The guards 96 are flexible and made ofrubber material and extend approximately a quarter of the length of thehut structure in the area of the open ends which will allow air toenter. The pigs may move under the wind guards or around the end.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pen enclosure 100 is provided at the end ofthe hut structure 10 opposite the pivotal connection between the hutstructure and the floor 26. The enclosure 100 includes a wire fence 102connected to a concrete floor 104 having upstanding side curbs 106. Awaste gutter may also be provided at the end of the pen 100 opposite thehut structure 10 and may be in communication with a series of farrowinghuts positioned in side-by-side relation such that waste materials fromeach of the farrowing huts will be fed into a common waste qutter 108.The farrowing hut and the pen 100 are sloped toward the waste gutter 108by being placed on gravel which diminishes in thickness towards thewaste gutter 108.

An alternate embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 and is bettersuited for being moved about from one area to another since the penenclosure 100A includes a floor 104A of fiber glass material fastened tothe fiber glass floor 26A of the hut structure 10A by bolts 120. A wirefence 122 extends around the floor 104A and provides a feeding andexercise area for the sow and pigs. A watering trough 124 is provided inthe pen enclosure 100A. The hut floor portions 26A and 26B in the pigsections also include heating elements as illustrated in FIG. 6 forheating the pig sections.

1. Method of farrowing pigs and providing and maintaining a disease freesingle litter farrowing hut wherein the hut includes a floor and anenclosure with the enclosure being pivotable from a position over thefloor to an open raised position whereby the floor and the entireinterior of the enclosure may be exposed to the sun, including the stepsof, providing a substantially non-porous hut, which bacteria cannotpenetrate,locating the farrowing hut outside in the open in substantialspaced relation to other farrowing huts so that each litter has freshair and is not breathing the air from another adjacent litter and in aposition relative to the sun that sun rays will reach the substantialarea of the floor and interior of the enclosure when in the raised openposition, following the removal of one sow and litter and before theadmission of the next sow pivoting the enclosure to the raised openposition and washing the floor and the interior of the enclosurethoroughly, maintaining the enclosure in the open position such that thefloor and enclosure interior are exposed to the sun's rays long enoughto kill all bacteria in the hut, and lowering the enclosure to theclosed position and moving another sow into the hut for farrowing.